This weekend, Gregory Cuéllar will go to the border again to see the faces of the children.
Cuéllar, an assistant professor of Old Testament at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, has been working with the children of asylum-seekers — meeting at the bus station in McAllen, Texas, with children just released from detention and helping them use art to tell their stories of exile, journey and home.
Cuéllar will go back to McAllen with Austin seminary students from Dec. 14-16 as part of a “Wall of Welcome – Interfaith Caravan of Hope” witness at the border, organized by Mission Presbytery in Texas.
The witness is expected to include preaching from J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); an update from Sr. Norma Pimentel of the Sacred Heart Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, where asylum-seekers are cared for each day as they are released from detention; and the insights of Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, co-moderator of the 2018 General … [Read more...]

When my family moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, we purchased the only house that was available in our price range. After moving in, we learned that in the house to our left lived a neighbor from Chile (I’m from Argentina) and to our right one from the Philippines (my wife and I were both born in Taiwan). Unbeknownst to us, we moved into a neighborhood with people very much like us.
The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is that the neighbor was not like my neighbors. The neighbor was the one who was compassionate towards someone very different from them. The central dispute between the Samaritans and Jews was the proper location to worship. While insignificant for us today, it had eternal consequences for them. Yet the Samaritan in the parable was able to see beyond their theological differences and care for a fellow human being.
Today, our neighbors do not live in our neighborhoods because America is a segregated nation — not just racially, but also … [Read more...]

Rutgers Presbyterian Church — New York City
Mayada Anjari came to the U.S. as a Syrian refugee and is building a new life for her family with love and support from Rutgers Presbyterian Church in New York City. To show her gratitude, Mayada prepared a meal. A supper series ensued and spread to other churches and synagogues across New York City, with volunteers helping in the kitchen. These dinners have provided income for Mayada’s family, raised awareness about refugees and nurtured connections among people who want to help. Now her recipes and the story of her journey and the culinary traditions that have sustained her are beautifully chronicled in a new book from Lake Isle Press: “The Bread and Salt Between Us” (which was named one of “The Best Cookbooks Coming Out This Fall” by Food & Wine). All involved volunteered their time and talents so that all proceeds will benefit Mayada’s family and other refugees and asylum seekers assisted by the church. Read excerpts at … [Read more...]

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13
Millions of stories of internally displaced persons (IDP), refugees and immigrants from around the globe will never be told or heard. Many of their stories will go to the grave with them. Even when they are told, who is listening? Too many IDPs who remain in their homeland are forced to find refuge in insecure buildings, where they are neither safe or warm. They suffer hunger and cold. Some are forced to turn to survival sex or to begging in the streets. In an attempt to flee, smugglers deplete them of any funds with which to start a new life in a new place and IDPs become victims of human trafficking. It’s not just Syria that is bleeding its own. South Sudan and Afghanistan, along with Syria, account for over half of all IDPs and refugees. Closer to home, children remain in … [Read more...]

I was working with a refugee ministry in Europe when I moved back to the U.S. to attend a Presbyterian seminary. Then the day after I graduated, I boarded a plane to work in northern Albania, and was there during the time of the war in neighboring Kosovo that led to the Kosovar refugee crisis.
In many ways, these felt like vastly different worlds. In northern Albania, I had a large knife pulled on me while walking down the street, had to sprint a few blocks home from a restaurant after gunshots rang nearby and was instructed not to wear seatbelts so I could more easily get out of our truck if someone jumped in front of it with a Kalashnikov.
These dangers were, well, never part of walking across Princeton Seminary’s campus or studying in the library (though intramural basketball could get a little rough). In many ways, the realities couldn’t be farther apart.
Yet I also know these different worlds were absolutely, intimately related. Our theology guides how we engage in the … [Read more...]

Whoever welcomes children welcomes Jesus. Love your neighbor as yourself. Who do you think was a neighbor to the man? The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. Perfect love casts out fear. They will know we are Christians by our love. In Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Greek. Whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus.
I could keep going. The Bible is chock-full of texts that could be used as a lens through which to view those seeking to cross our borders. None of which justify separating families or arresting people for seeking asylum. If we assume immigrants and refugees are our neighbors, our call is to love them as ourselves. If Jesus’ instruction to welcome children is literal, then we should be welcoming children and not putting them in detention centers. If we want to say that those from other countries are … [Read more...]